Calkins: Tiger Woods is back...unfortunately

Nike is causing a social media storm with its latest online ad, seen here, showing a picture of Tiger Woods overlaid with a quote from him, “Winning takes care of everything.” Woods has used the phrase with reporters since at least 2009 when they ask him about rankings. The ad, posted on Facebook and Twitter, is supposed to allude to the fact that the golfer recovered from career stumbles to regain his world No. 1 ranking on Monday, which he lost in October 2010. But some say it's inappropri
— AP

Nike is causing a social media storm with its latest online ad, seen here, showing a picture of Tiger Woods overlaid with a quote from him, “Winning takes care of everything.” Woods has used the phrase with reporters since at least 2009 when they ask him about rankings. The ad, posted on Facebook and Twitter, is supposed to allude to the fact that the golfer recovered from career stumbles to regain his world No. 1 ranking on Monday, which he lost in October 2010. But some say it's inappropri
/ AP

The reemergence of golf’s greatest talent, who some have said swings a club better than anyone else does anything, appears to be complete. And the return of golf’s most unapologetic figure, whose arrogance is superseded only by his ignorance, looks to have been achieved as well.

Last week, Tiger hushed pessimists who assumed that he would never regain his form by winning his third tournament of the season and recapturing the world’s No. 1 ranking. But it was the optimists that Woods truly silenced – the folks who held out hope that he was a changed man – when he allowed Nike to release an ad featuring his image overlaid with the quote “Winning takes care of everything.”

The swoosh-maker’s stance was that Tiger has long used that very phrase in response to reporters asking about his or other golfers’ rankings. But you’d have to be as blind as a replacement ref to not think it was an allusion to Woods’– what’s the word he used? – transgressions.

Three and a half years ago, Tiger’s personal life crumbled to a degree he couldn’t have thought possible when his infidelity was made public in the most humiliating of fashions. His game deteriorated similarly, as he slipped to an equally unfathomable 58th in the world rankings.

It was bonkers to see sports’ most dominant force and advertising’s most immaculate pitchman so spectacularly disintegrate. But for Woods, it also presented an opportunity – a chance to finally be a man of the people instead of one simply above them.

Tiger never won tournaments like Arnold Palmer or Lee Trevino, who could charm galleries with the same flare in which they attacked flagsticks. Woods’ appeal always lay in the sheer mastery he demonstrated over the golf course and the field.

Folks forgave him for not signing autographs because he was so dang incredible. And they let the four-letter outbursts slide because, hey…this guy was a first-class family man, right?

But then Tiger backed into a hydrant and set fire to his aura. He wasn’t a machine anymore, he was a man. Not a good man. Not an honest man. But as a man – if he truly changed his ways – he could one day be loved by the public instead of merely admired.

It seemed as though he was heading in this direction when he first returned to the tour. He answered questions about his personal life with grace. He walked the fairways with humility. He even confessed to fearing how the galleries would receive him.

Golf’s Fort Knox was becoming eerily, perhaps even endearingly accessible. But like a New Year’s resolution, this new Woods promptly faded away.

The on-course cursing returned almost instantly. Terse, often condescending responses to reporters followed.

On a question about playing with pain: “I won a U.S. Open on a broken leg. I think I can handle it.”

On a follow-up regarding former swing coach Hank Haney’s controversial book: “You’re a real beauty. Have a good day.”

His pro-am rounds, meanwhile, are laughably swift, with Tiger practically sprinting between strokes to avoid chit-chat with the everyman. The thing is, despite hardly sharing a word, his playing partners likely are getting to know the real Woods.

So yeah, it had been getting tougher and tougher to cling to the idea that Tiger was reformed. Then this ad appeared and shredded any remaining hope.

Winning takes care of everything? Winning takes care of dissolving a marriage, breaking up a household and alienating a fan base? Winning takes care of living a life that’s galaxies apart from what you were trying to convey to the public?

There’s a spitting image, and then there’s a spit-in-your-face image – and this new Nike slogan seems to embody the latter.

It’s been fascinating to watch Tiger act as though nothing has changed over the past few years, replying “never left” to questions about finally being “back.”